William w



(No Model.)

W. W. HOPKINS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY. No. 379,070.- Patented Mar. 6, l888.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. HOPKINS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO IRVING MOGOWAN, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,070, dated March 6, 1888.

I Application filed September 7, 1887. Serial No. 249.034. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. HoPKINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to electric railways of the class wherein a sectional conductor is employed which has separable contact-points at each end of the sections normally in contact,

such contacts being broken by the passage of a moving circuit-breaker, which diverts the current to said circuit-breaker, and thence to an electric motor moving with it.

The objects of the invention are to provide such a construction at the contact ends of the conductor-sections as to insure a continuous current throughout the line, and, second, to so construct the circuit-breaker as to infallibly prevent the motor from being short-circuited 2 5 at any point or from any cause. The construction by which these objects are attained con sists,generally speaking,of a conductor formed in sections, the ends of each section being provided with a double spring-contact, whereby 0 contact is made at each end of a section at two points. Cooperating with this conductor isa sectional circuit-breaker carried by a car or by a train of cars, such circuit-breaker consisting of at least three parts, two of which are con- 3 5 doctors and in electrical connection with a motor on the train, while the intermediate part or parts are non-conductors, either by reason of the material from which they are constructed or by proper insulation.

The exact construction of the devices thus generally described need not here be specifically set forth, as their description is contained in the specification following, where they will be considered with reference to the accom- 5 panying drawings, in Which Figure 1 is a plan view of several sections of a conductor, showing the sectional circuitbreaker; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation, both figures showing in diagram the motor and the connections from the circuit-breaker to said motor. Fig. 3 is a separate view of two of the flexible arms carrying double circuit-closers.

As this construction is applicable either to a surface railway employing the conduit system or to elevated railways, the letter A will mp resent either the bottom of a conduit or a part of an elevated structure. It is simply a base of support for the conductor, and need not be more than generally described.

Upon this base are mounted pillars (I, placed 6 at regular intervals throughout the line and set alternately on opposite sides of the support, as shown in Fig. 1. Upon each of these pillars is insulated an elastic arm, I), the ends of alternate arms overlapping, as in Fig. 1. Each 6 5 of these arms b supports at each end and is insulated from a double contactpiece, I), and these contact pieces are held normally in contact at b b by the elasticity of the arms b. The circuit-wire or conductor is composed of short sections it, each of which extends from one of the double contacts b along the arm I; to the next contact, thus forming,when the circuit-closers b are in contact, a continuous circuit throughout theline. The purpose ofhav- 7 ing two circuit-closing contacts is to prevent the possibility of opening the circuit by reason of any foreign substance becoming lodged between two of the contact-points, such as a small pebble or particles of sand, 850.

The current is supplied from a dynamo-machine or any suitable generator at a station or stations on the line.

The means for diverting the current from the conductor to a motor on a car or train con- 85 sists of a sectional circuit-breaker, G. This circuit-breaker is composed of at least three sections, 0 c 0, each section being long enough to separate the circuit-closers at two points, as shown. The divisionsc c of the circuit-breaker 0 are in electrical connection through wires in m with a motor, M, on a car or train; but the intermediate division, 0, is a non-conductor.

.These circuit-breakers are all supported by one or more cars of a train, and it is evident 5 that while one of the divisions c is taking the current for the motor the opposite division 0 is returning the current to the line. The purpose of the non-conducting circuit-breaker c is to force apart the circuit-closers of one of the zoo conductor-sections, and thus prevent any current from passing at some one point on the line between the two conducting circuitclosers. All the current must necessarily pass through the motor, while at the same time the latter cannot be short-circuited.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In an electric railway, a series of pillars 01' supports, each provided with a horizontal spring'arm, such arm having at each end a donble contact piece, substantially as described.

2. In an electric railway having a conductor formed in sections, a series of pillars or supports, an arm carried by each support and partly overlapping a similar arm on the next support, and a double contact-piece carried by "WILLIAM \V. HOPKINS.

Witnesses:

JosEPH Gr HOLLIDAY, HEBER W. ADAMS. 

